March Folk Hymns Concert (March 15th). Script

All the Way My Savior Leads Me When my big boys were little guys, I would often sing these old Folk Hymns to them at bedtime. Just like my mom used to do when I was small. They’re grown now. 21 and 17. But even now I’ll just bet you, they wouldn’t mind me singing them to sleep. On occasion… Rarely. Well, probably just to humor me. They’re good boys. This is such an important memory for me of singing these old time songs, or having them sung to me by mom… in the dark after getting tucked in and feeling safe. There are 25 minutes left of this simple concert tonight. I hope you won't think of it as silly, but I want to wrap up this little concert and sing for you as if…well, as if I’m your momma; especially if you didn't come from a loving family, or a family with the sweet bedtime ritual of lullabies. That experience is something you should not have missed out on, and I’m sorry for that. I want to make up for it tonight. I want to invite you to remember what it felt like to be small and enjoy these next few songs as a child might, or with a child’s heart. Soften a little. Relax. Forget the worries and airs you have as a grown up. Let me sing for you and let you feel safe.

Listed below are the other hymns in the set. Interested in the recordings? I have some sweet recordings of these songs from rehearsals with Meng Cham. 

Send me a private message and I'll email you what you want. Or find them on dropbox here.

Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us was originally written for children, but it ended up being loved by adults. I’ll bet you will find it in nearly every 19^th and 20^th century hymnal around the English speaking world.
 There’s even a true story from the civil war in US about a Union soldier who started singing it when a confederate soldier was going to shoot him. Because the confederate soldier’s mother had sung it to him as a child, he didn’t have the heart to shoot. Years later, when attending a revival meeting, that old confederate soldier heard the soloist Ira Sankey sing it. Afterward he asked Ira if and where he had served in the Civil War. It turned out that Ira Sankey was the singing soldier and this song had saved life!

Tell Me Why

This next song is so old and traditional that no one knows who originally wrote it. But I fell in love with it in the early 90’s when Sesame Street produced an album called “For Our Children” with old rockers singing various tracks. Billy Joel, Little Richard, Bette Midler. It was Hit Me With Your Best Shot Pat Benetar who had sung this sweet song. Here’s Tell Me Why:

I Need Thee Every Hour

In 1872, a housewife, Annie Hawks, is said to have come up with these next lyrics while she was doing her chores around the house. Thank goodness she wrote them down and Robert Lowry, who was quite prolific at hymnwriting and an influential music educator, learned of it and wrote the music. I’d love to tell you more about Robert Lowry. He is credited for writing the earlier song Savior Like a Shepherd Lead us, and one much more famous: “Just as I Am” But that’s not what’s on the program. This one is.

Jesus Paid it All

We’re going to switch it up here for one song, and get a little countrified on you. Once I started looking over all the choices of the old folk hymns, it was hard to come up with a short list for you. I had forgotten about many of them, but this one brought back happy memories from childhood, so it made the cut.

Softly & Tenderly

And now we’ve come to my last one to close out this Folk Hyms evening organized & curated by Dawn Fung. Thank you Dawn for your vision and putting it together for us! And the Artistry staff. Thank you for serving us. And you all too. Thank you for coming tonight. It was such a treat to sing for you. Here’s one last song for the night.